The bottom line is clear: Our vital interests in Afghanistan are limited and military victory is not the key to achieving them. On the contrary, waging a lengthy counterinsurgency war in Afghanistan may well do more to aid Taliban recruiting than to dismantle the group, help spread conflict further into Pakistan, unify radical groups that might otherwise be quarreling amongst themselves, threaten the long-term health of the U.S. economy, and prevent the U.S. government from turning its full attention to other pressing problems. -- Afghanistan Study Group

Thursday, December 15, 2011

The DoD is reporting a new death previously unreported by the military. Pvt. Jalfred D. Vaquerano died in Landstuhl, Germany on Tuesday, December 13th. He was wounded from small arms fire in Logar province, Afghanistan on an unreported date.

Baghdad:
#1: A teacher and his son were gravely hurt by a bomb explosion, west of Baghdad, security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the explosion was done near one of main Baghdad squares.

Mosul:
#1: The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the soldier was killed by unknown armed group east of the city, while he was on duty.

#2: In another incident, a bomb exploded against a federal police patrol, south of Mosul, that led to wounding a woman and a man, who were accidentally near the explosion site.

Tal Afar:
#1: Security sources in Ninewa disclosed the final toll from the twin explosions in Talafar, noting it totaled three dead and 32 wounded, most of whom are civilians. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that the twin-car explosions led to heavy casualties.

Afghanistan: "The Forgotten War"
#1: Police in north-eastern Afghanistan have rescued 11 fellow officers from Taliban-led insurgents and detained 30 rebels, officials said. The raid was launched Wednesday in the district of Warduj, Badakhshan province, said Abdul Maroof Rasakh, a spokesman for the district's governor. The rescued policemen were captured on December 6 in an attack claimed by the Taliban which killed at least two officers, police said.

#2: According to local authorities in western Afghanistan, at least eight Afghan civilians were killed following a roadside bomb explosion in western Faraha province. Farah provincial security chief Ghulam Ghous confirming the incident said, the incident took place on late Wednesday night after a civilian vehicle struck with a roadside bomb in Parchaman district of western Farah province, killing at least eight Afghan civilians and injuring three others.

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comments:

They came on Wednesday to bury the war: clerics and sheiks, children and widows from across this scarred city. In the shadow of an overpass, they waved banners, burned an American flag, displayed photos of their dead and shouted well-worn denunciations of departing American forces.

“It’s a festival,” said Sheik Hamid Ahmed Hasham, the head of the local council, whose four predecessors were assassinated.

Once an inner ring of Iraq’s wartime inferno, Falluja is only too eager to say goodbye to nearly nine shattering years of raids, bombings and house-to-house urban combat. At least 200 American troops were killed in this city. Untold thousands of Iraqis died, civilians and insurgents who are mourned equally as martyrs.

Today, Falluja is a city desperately seeking normal.

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Many people of Fallujah are in deep, deep pain from the US war of aggression and occupation. But this pain goes way beyond the physical pain and physical scars. Today, the people of Fallujah are afraid to have a child, because the odds of a child having severe birth defects are very high. The odds of a newborn baby dying in the first week of life are one in four. The odds of a child getting cancer are very high. Adults are getting cancer in record numbers also. And this started in 2005, so we can be sure that something that the US military did in 2004 is the root cause of all these birth defects and cancers.

I can think of nothing more evil than to take away a person’s ability to have a healthy child.

When the Americans came, they made a very big mistake. If they had won over the tribal leaders of Anbar in advance, there would have been no problem. If the Americans had not chosen violence, the resistance would not have been so strong. But after the first shooting when people were killed outside a school in Falluja in 2003, and after the two battles of Falluja in 2004 the sons of Falluja were ready to be friends even with the devil if it hurt the Americans.

They were ripe for Salafis, killers, thieves, insurgents, nationalists, Baathists, jihadis, anyone who was against the Americans. If someone was killed in the street by the Americans, all his friends would form a group and compete against each other as to who would be first to take revenge upon the Americans.